This invention relates to a case for portable electronic devices, and more specifically, to a case with a battery.
There are many types of portable electronic devices including personal digital assistants (PDAs), computers, smartphones, mobile phones, satellite phones, cellular phones, pagers, music player, MP3 players, media players, digital cameras, video cameras, bar code scanner, global positioning system (GPS), and portable game consoles. Typically these devices are battery powered, so that people can carry and use the devices during their daily lives (e.g., on a bus or train, while in flight on an airplane, at the gym on the stair stepper, walking down an aisle, riding a bike, or driving a car).
These portable electronic devices allow people to play and record music, send and receive e-mail, send text messages, browse Web pages, make phone calls, play and record video, take and view pictures, edit documents, and much more. These devices continue to revolutionize the way people interact, learn, connect with other people, conduct business, and find things. They help people manage their daily lives and sometimes are an entertainment source.
Because portable electronic devices are somewhat fragile and used to carry valuable personal information (e.g. phone numbers, financial information, private photos or videos, and favorite music tracks), many people protect their portable electronic devices using cases. Depending on the particular case design, these cases protect the back, side, and front of the devices from scratches, dings, drops, and other physical damage. Some cases may even have pockets to hold extra batteries or memory. So, when a battery becomes discharged, the person can take the used battery out of the portable electronic device and replace it with a fresh battery from the case's pocket. Then the used battery can be recharged using a recharger at home.
Also as modern portable electronic devices evolve, they continue to provide more features and greater functionality. For example, screen sizes become larger and have greater resolution. The devices have greater wireless range or capabilities (e.g., 3G broadband wireless) and more numbers of sensors (e.g., touch screen, accelerometer, proximity sensor, and ambient light sensor). Applications that run on the devices also may use more processing power. All these improvements and changes usually are an additional drain on the battery, shortening how long these devices can be used on a single charge.
Therefore, it is desirable to increase the battery life of portable electronic devices and also to protect these devices from damage. There is a need for a portable electronic device case that also provides additional battery life.